Alamo Plaza street closures to be debated this spring

San Antonio is moving forward on what could be a controversial proposal
to close Alamo Plaza to vehicle traffic as part of a plan to create a
“world class” historic site with full pedestrian and wheelchair access. less

San Antonio is moving forward on what could be a controversial proposal
to close Alamo Plaza to vehicle traffic as part of a plan to create a
“world class” historic site with full pedestrian and ... more

Photo: WILLIAM LUTHER, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Photo: WILLIAM LUTHER, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

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San Antonio is moving forward on what could be a controversial proposal
to close Alamo Plaza to vehicle traffic as part of a plan to create a
“world class” historic site with full pedestrian and wheelchair access. less

San Antonio is moving forward on what could be a controversial proposal
to close Alamo Plaza to vehicle traffic as part of a plan to create a
“world class” historic site with full pedestrian and ... more

Photo: WILLIAM LUTHER, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Alamo Plaza street closures to be debated this spring

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San Antonio is moving forward on what could be a controversial proposal to close Alamo Plaza to vehicle traffic as part of a plan to create a “world class” historic site with full pedestrian and wheelchair access.

The Planning Commission will consider the street closures and conveyance of part of the plaza to the state, rendering a recommendation for City Council action possibly in June, officials said.

Council members heard an update Wednesday on a multimillion-dollar plan for the Alamo mission and battle site that is still open to revision. Speaking to another hot-button proposal in the plan, Councilman Greg Brockhouse said he opposes relocation of the Cenotaph.

City officials, working with the Texas General Land Office and nonprofit Alamo Endowment, worry that the 60-foot-tall monument, a fixture in the plaza since 1940, now has cracked, dislocated stone and failing mortar, and needs to be disassembled and repaired. Moving it would re-create the plaza to its historic appearance as an open space.

But some, including Brockhouse, feel it should stay in the plaza as a tribute to the nearly 200 Texian and Tejano defenders killed in the 1836 battle.

“Restored, yes. Moved, no,” Brockhouse said about how he wants the Cenotaph treated.

The council could see an updated plan in a work session as early as May that could include a water feature — a replicated acequia — on the west side of the plaza and removal of curbs and vehicles.

After discussing a proposal last year to move the Cenotaph more than a block away to a pocket park along Market Street, by the Convention Center, city officials said Wednesday that if moved, it would stay close to the plaza.

One reason for removing traffic on portions of Alamo and Crockett streets is to reduce vibrations that experts say contribute to deterioration of the Alamo’s fragile limestone walls. Since placing black butcher paper on the floor of the iconic mission-era Alamo church in September 2016, Alamo officials have found that the pieces of walls are flaking off the walls daily, falling like dust. Officials said they believe traffic can be redirected to other streets downtown without causing a traffic logjam from the closures.

The Land Office has secured a total of $106.5 million for the Alamo from the Legislature in 2015 and 2017, including $31 million requested last year for reconstruction of the church and Long Barrack. The city’s financial commitment to the public-private project, with a focus on streets and other city right-of-way, is $17 million in capital funds adopted in 2016 and $21 million in bonds approved last year by voters. Officials with the endowment have said they want to privately raise at least $200 million, but first need a definitive plan.

The plan will be the subject of meetings throughout Texas, and it could pose a challenge to weigh local and statewide opinions about what the plaza makeover should look like.

“If we are shooting for perfect, we are never going to get this done,” Councilman Manny Pelaez said.

In December, a six-member master plan Management Committee, composed of officials of the city, Land Office and endowment, announced selection of PGAV Destinations to lead development of a comprehensive interpretive plan and plaza design. The design team, which includes Reed-Hilderbrand landscape architects and Cultural Innovations museum and cultural heritage consultants, is receiving local feedback from a 26-member Alamo Citizen Advisory Committee.

A major component of the plan that will drive fundraising for the endowment will be conversion of three state-owned buildings on the plaza to a 135,000-square-foot museum and visitor center. City Manager Sheryl Sculley, who serves on the plan’s Management Committee, said the project is “pretty complicated” but will triple the amount of open space at the historic site, and increase the number of visitors to the Texas shrine — a figure now running at about 1.5 million people annually.

“We’re hoping to double that over time,” Sculley said.

The increased visitation, if coordinated with San Antonio’s other four UNESCO World Heritage-designated missions, will keep visitors at the Alamo and in San Antonio longer, contributing to the city’s hotel occupancy and sales-tax revenues and tourism industry, she said.

To reduce noise and make the plaza a reverent site, the city has identified an area that could become an “entertainment district” apart from the plaza where amusement attractions, now generating more than 100 jobs and holding leases in the three state-owned buildings, could relocate, she said.

Councilman Roberto Treviño, the city’s other member on the tri-party Management Committee, said the plan is still in its early stage. Given the importance of the Alamo to San Antonio and the world, the process should not be rushed, he said, even though it is targeted for full implementation by 2024 — the tricentennial of the founding of the site as the third and final location of the Mission San Antonio de Valero, which became the Alamo.

“We have a goal, but not a deadline,” Treviño said.

The design team will soon begin a “road show” to receive input on the plan in other areas of Texas. Mayor Ron Nirenberg said it will be difficult to integrate that statewide input with local feedback on design components and historical interpretation. One issue that has frequently arisen is the correct balance of perspectives on the 1836 battle versus the site’s mission era.

Nirenberg said he wants the plaza to remain an open space and a place of reverence, but realizes people have strong passions and different perspectives.

“There will be a natural tension from start to finish on that,” the mayor said.